Steph Curry's talent — and contagious spirit — helped lift Golden State back to the top of the NBA

By Ric Bucher
FOX Sports NBA Writer

"He’s different."

That's the latest way to identify an athlete as being extraordinary, special, unique, not so much in talent — that’s what "unicorn" is for — but in attitude and demeanor. To hear the Golden State Warriors tell it, no NBA superstar has ever deserved that designation more than Stephen Curry.

If you’re looking for an explanation of how the team recovered from a Wile E. Coyote header two years ago, going from dynasty to decrepit in the span of a few months, it begins and ends with Curry. Not his ability to hit a shot from seemingly anywhere on the planet — though that certainly plays a part — but the inextinguishable spirit and joy with which he plays. 

As it turns out, that’s not just when he’s revving up the Warriors’ faithful with a post-bucket celebratory shimmy, salsa step or jutted lower jaw. It’s all the time.

"Guys ask, ‘Is he like that in real life?’" said Warriors center Kevon Looney, now in his seventh season with Curry as a teammate. "Anybody you ask, they’ll tell you, he’s the same person. I’ve never seen Steph down or sad or having a bad day. He might be going through stuff, but he never really shows us. He’ll never show you that he’s having a bad time."

Looney’s reference to playing an NBA game as something other than real life is also a tell-tale key to the Warriors' going from a run of five straight NBA Finals appearances to posting the worst record in the NBA to losing a play-in game (despite Curry receiving MVP consideration) to once more sitting atop the league with a 13-2 record. 

Since the start of Steve Kerr’s tenure as the Warriors’ head coach in 2014, he has made sure that his players never lose sight of how fortunate they are to be living NBA lives. Kerr, by example, encourages his players to care about issues outside of basketball and support those less fortunate. He also insists they never lose sight of the fact that real-world problems rarely intrude upon making an NBA salary and who is afforded the conveniences that come with public recognition and celebrity.

"You have to be able to maintain perspective on how lucky we are to be playing and coaching in the NBA, taking care of our families and being together and traveling around playing basketball for a living," Kerr said from a plush team tour bus as it rumbled to the Cleveland Ritz Carlton. "It may sound cliché or trite, but it’s real."

Curry, of course, grew up with an NBA life, his father Dell having played 16 seasons in the league — 10 of them on playoff teams. Kerr credits Dell and Steph’s mom, Sonya, with their son’s unflappable demeanor on the court.

"It’s a combination of great parents and the value of growing up in an NBA household," Kerr said. "They taught him at an early age, ‘You’re not allowed to get down on yourself. It’s not even an option.’ Some of that is my perception and some of it is from talking to Dell. We’ve played golf in the past, and we’ve talked about Steph. I’ve seen it in the stands. I’ve seen Steph having tough nights with his parents there. They look at him, and you know, it’s like, ’Nope, you’re not allowed to do that.’ One of the things I love about him is that ability to maintain that energy and joy in the face of a tough night."

The toughest challenge to the Warriors’ esprit de corps culture actually came three years ago, during their last run to the Finals, which ended with a loss to the Toronto Raptors. An unsettled feeling hung over the entire team as superstar Kevin Durant, a pending free agent, became increasingly aloof — and at times, a team source said, disengaged — a far different presence than he had been in Golden State's previous two championship seasons.

If Durant had been the lone missing piece lost when he opted to sign with the Brooklyn Nets, maybe the 2019-20 season wouldn’t have been so challenging. But the Warriors were also without All-Star shooting guard Klay Thompson, who tore his ACL against the Raptors, and their indispensable sixth man, Andre Iguodala, who was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for salary-cap reasons after the Warriors acquired D’Angelo Russell from Minnesota. Then, five games into the season, Curry broke his left hand when Phoenix Suns center Aaron Baynes landed on it.

"Even if Steph had stayed healthy, there was a feeling in that training camp that, ‘This is going to be a slog,’" Kerr recalled.

Kerr and the Warriors refused to allow the prospect of a miserable record to create a miserable atmosphere. The routine of playing music, exchanging wisecracks and interspersing fun competitions within the course of practice — established during their halcyon days to counter the relentless pressure that comes with defending championships — was kept intact even as Golden State floundered through a league-worst 15-50 season.

"It was one of the things I was most proud of," Kerr said. "We kept that culture intact. That requires a dedication to your values every single day, even when you’re losing games. You have to have some fun, and the players have to enjoy the process. You’ve got to make sure they feel valued and that we have something invested in them, even when you’re losing and maybe especially when you’re losing. 

"That’s the most important time for your culture to sustain and shine. It’s not impossible, but it’s not easy. We ended up making a bunch of trades at the trade deadline that year, and some of the guys who left expressed how disappointed they were to leave. That’s validation that what you’re doing is working because usually if you have the worst record in the league, people can’t wait to get out of there."

Although Curry made only one more appearance on the floor in uniform that 2019-20 season, an eight-point home loss to the Raptors in March, he not only sat on the bench for nearly every home game but also led spirited celebrations of every big shot or play, cast and all.

"Even when he was hurt, he was around, making his presence felt," Kerr said. "That was really important to sustain that while we were losing."

Curry wasn’t just present. He was a leader. 

The two-time MVP never looked at Juan Toscano-Anderson or Mychal Mulder or any of the other G League roster additions as beneath him, never hectored the front office to find better talent. If there’s a reason the rest of the Warriors enthusiastically set screens, chase loose balls and work to get Steph open looks now, it’s because he was there for them even when they couldn’t do anything for him.

"When he got hurt, you could tell he really wanted to be out there with us," Looney said. "Sometimes, you would think with a superstar, the guys on the bench wouldn’t want to be around him or even talk to him because they feel like he’s on a different level. But he makes everybody feel like they’re on the same level. He just fits in."

Nemanja Bjelica, who signed as a free agent last summer as a stretch center, made his NBA debut in 2015 at age 27, following a distinguished career in Europe that included being named the 2015 Euroleague MVP. The Warriors immediately caught his eye when he arrived.

"I knew Golden State was perfect for me because I was watching the way they played for seven years," Bjelica said. "I know it’s a business, but you see everybody having fun, on the bench cheering for each other. Everybody is saying, ‘Look at the Warriors, how they enjoy themselves.'"

Before becoming a Warrior, Bjelica played two-and-a-half seasons with the Sacramento Kings for coach Luke Walton, a former Golden State assistant, and with former Warrior Harrison Barnes. "They told me it’s a phenomenal, amazing place and how Steph sets an example by the way he works," Bjelica said. 

Iguodala, with whom Bjelica played last season in Miami, echoed the sentiment. And Bjelica, believing his skills had been underutilized while playing for young teams in Minnesota and Sacramento, was eager to experience all he’d heard from the former Warriors, especially when it came to Curry.

"I wanted to see in person all these stories about Steph Curry, the guy who changed basketball completely," Bjelica said.

He was not disappointed. The two met for some informal workouts last summer in Las Vegas. Bjelica approached Curry and said, "Brate, what’s up, what’s up?" — Brate being Serbian for brother.

"He welcomed me," Bjelica said. "That man, he’s special. People don’t know. They know how great he is as a player. But off the court, he is such a humble person, the nicest superstar I’ve ever met."

The Warriors signed Bjelica primarily as a 3-point-shooting big man, but he quickly demonstrated his deft ballhandling, floor vision and passing when teams ran him off the 3-point line. Bjelica credits Curry, Draymond Green and the Warriors’ system for making him look good.

"I was doing similar playmaking from the post for Luke in Sac, but when you have Steph Curry, trust me, it’s easy to play," he said. "You just read what he’s going to do. We’re just here to help him, and we look even better because of him. I’m playing this way because of all these guys."

The Warriors are well aware that the season is still very young and that a 13-2 start guarantees them nothing. They fully expect to face their share of challenges and tough times. But this is where the past two years, followed by the current promising start, offer validation that as long as they believe there is a silver lining, one will appear.

"When you have players like Steph and Dray, you always feel like you’re just one piece away," Looney said. "Even when things are going bad, we have this blind confidence that we’re going to figure it out."

For the Warriors, it’s not just about figuring out how to get back to winning. It’s also enjoying the journey, through the valleys as well as the mountaintops. Curry is a living example of how to do that every day.

"When you see the best player working hard, having fun every day, it’s kind of hard to come in and say, ‘This sucks,’" Looney said, laughing. "He has all the pressure in the world on him, and he’s still going out there and performing and joking with us. Even when we’re losing, he’s not looking down on us and saying we’re not good enough. He’s just out there working hard and being one of the guys.

"And that’s contagious."

Ric Bucher is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. He previously wrote for Bleacher Report, ESPN The Magazine and The Washington Post and has written two books, "Rebound," the story of NBA forward Brian Grant’s battle with young onset Parkinson’s, and "Yao: A Life In Two Worlds," the story of NBA center Yao Ming. He also has a daily podcast, "On The Ball with Ric Bucher." Follow him on Twitter @RicBucher.